Gambling participation steady in Great Britain, survey reveals
Lottery draws continue to dominate gambling activities, with online and in-person gambling participation varying significantly when lottery-only players are excluded from the results.
Key points:
– Overall gambling participation remains stable at 48%, with 20% exclusively participating in lottery draws
– Online gambling reached 37%, though much of this was lottery-focused
– Betting participation rose by over 3 percentage points compared to earlier in 2024
The Gambling Commission has published the latest results from the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB) – conducted by NatCen – covering data collected from April to July 2024.
Based on interviews with 4,657 adults aged 18 and over, the findings provide insights into gambling habits across the nation.
Overall gambling participation, defined as engagement in any gambling activity in the past four weeks, remained steady at 48% – consistent with 2023 and earlier 2024 data.
A significant proportion of participants (20%) exclusively engaged in lottery draws, such as the National Lottery or charity lotteries. When excluding these individuals, gambling participation stood at 28%.
The data also highlighted differences in gambling habits based on demographic groups. Overall gambling participation was highest among males aged 45 to 64, but when lottery-only players were excluded, males aged 25 to 34 emerged as the most active gambling demographic.
Online gambling remains prevalent, with 37% of respondents participating in the past four weeks. However, this figure drops to 17% when excluding those who only played online lotteries.
Good to know: Respondents cited “the chance to win big money” and “because it’s fun” as the main reasons for gambling
Meanwhile, in-person gambling was reported by 29% of respondents, falling to 18% when lottery-only players were excluded.
Lotteries continued to dominate as the most popular gambling activity, with 31% participating in National Lottery draws and 16% in other charity lotteries. Other favoured activities included scratchcards (12%), betting (12%) and online instant win games (7%).
Additionally, it was found that betting participation increased by over 3 percentage points compared to the previous survey wave.
It is worth noting that the survey methodology used differs from previous publications, making direct historical comparisons challenging.
The next quarterly publication is scheduled for 27 February 2025.
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